Many paper documents and forms known as “documents of title” or transfer documents are used in commercial transactions such as: bills of lading, airbills (or airwaybills), warehouse receipts, as well as other paper documents and forms such as: delivery orders, delivery receipts, shipping or tracking labels, and confirmation of shipping forms.
A “bill of lading” is a document of title issued by a consignor or shipper of goods or personal property that evidences the receipt of goods or personal property for shipment by a commercial carrier. The consignor is the person named in the bill as the person from whom the goods have been received for shipment. The bill of lading provides written instructions to the commercial carrier including those related to the shipment of the personal property to the consignee (the person named in a bill to whom or to whose order the bill promises delivery). Furthermore it describes, in written words, the personal property or goods that are being shipped and often how it is packed. Before making delivery of the shipment to the consignee, the commercial carrier typically generates a “delivery receipt” which provides evidence of the delivery and which describes the personal property or goods being delivered, in written words that usually copy those used in the bill of lading. Typically, a “tracking label”, bearing an assigned tracking number and barcode that identifies the shipment is applied to the bill of lading and/or the shipment itself. A “warehouse receipt” is a document of title that is used to acknowledge possession of the personal property or goods being stored in a warehouse and, like the other documents, it describes, in written words, the personal property or goods that are being stored.
One problem with conventional paper “documents of title” and other documents and forms used in commercial shipping transactions is that they only provide a written description of the goods or personal property making up the shipment and how it is packed. These types of paper documents and forms can be subject to fraud or accidental mistakes in identifying the goods or property involved in the transaction. Furthermore, after an event of tampering or pilferage has occurred, it is possible for the written description to remain unchanged and still adequately describe the appearance of the shipment in its tampered with or pilfered condition.
Thus, based on the written description alone, it is possible that a consignee will not recognize if the shipment has been pilfered or tampered with, or identify where this pilferage and/or tampering took place (e.g., before or after the commercial carrier took possession of the shipment). Pilferage is an ongoing problem in the shipping industry, particularly with high-value, small-sized commodities. Another problem is that with recently heightened security concerns, shipments that have been tampered with can pose a security threat or health hazard, and it is important for law enforcement to identify where the tampering occurred in order to prevent future tampering.
In instances where goods or property is shipped in cargo containers, a numbered security seal can be placed on the outside of that shipping container. Where such a seal is used, the container number and seal number can be noted on the bill of lading or other shipping document. However, criminal elements and others who would want to tamper with the contents of the container could break the seal and repair it or replace it with another one with the same number, or, they could replace an entire shipping container that used the same container number markings.
It is also possible for criminals to keep the original seal fully intact by cutting the rings (attached to the container and into which the seal is placed) in such a way as to allow the criminal to open the container and to then repair or replace these rings in such a way as to conceal the tampering by keeping the seal intact.